The world's largest lizard uses deadly saliva as part of its armoury to make sure it's the top predator in its island home.

Life span
Unknown, but thought to live for many decades.

Statistics
Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world. The body length of the largest accurately recorded specimen is 3.1m. (Weight: 166kg)

Physical description
The Komodo dragon is a huge, heavily-built monitor lizard. It is typically lizard shaped with no spikes or crests. Its tail is roughly the same length as its body and each foot has five very large claws. Dorsal colouration is grey-brown with some individuals showing orange and yellow patterns on the neck and head. Juveniles are more vividly marked with yellow and cream banding on the head and neck but this quickly fades as they grow. Komodo dragons possess a very long bivalent (two-pointed) tongue that is regularly flicked in and out to pick up air-borne scent particles.

Distribution
The dragons are only found on several small islands in Indonesia. These are Komodo, Rinca (pronounced Rintja), Padar and the western end of Flores. Their entire range is contained within the Komodo National Park which protects the habitat of these huge but rare lizards.

Habitat
Dry grassland, woodland thickets and clearings at lower elevations on the inland mountains. The islands where the dragons are found are very dry and covered mainly in grassland with some woodland areas. The dragons are found throughout their range, but mainly in lowland areas along the coast and dry river beds and gullies, which provide good cover and feeding opportunities. The adults are found exclusively on the ground whereas juveniles up to 1m long are arboreal and live and hunt in the trees in order to avoid cannibalism from larger individuals

Diet
Young Komodo dragons feed on insects and lizards. Adults will eat anything they can get their jaws on. They are strictly carnivorous and have a natural diet of wild deer. They have taken advantage of humans living on the islands by scavenging through rubbish and finding food scraps as well as attacking goats, water buffalo and chickens or stealing fish from fishermen. They will eat both live and dead prey.

Behaviour
Komodo dragons occupy an ecological niche left vacant by large predators, making them top of the food chain - so no animal on its native islands is safe from attack. Though usually found on the ground, they are agile climbers and swimmers. Their tongues pick up chemical signals which they use to locate injured prey or carrion. They also hide in grass in order to ambush prey. Komodo dragons often feed on rotting carcasses. As a result they ingest large numbers of harmful, decay-inducing bacteria which then live in the mouths of the lizards. Though they can't overpower prey the size of water buffalo, the lizards sometimes launch an attack, bite it several times and then usually give up. In the process the lizard will have injected the buffalo with bacteria. These multiply rapidly and lead to blood poisoning and gangrene, disabling or killing the buffalo. The dragon then consumes the carcass or wounded animal some days later. The scent of the carcass may travel for many kilometres, attracting many dragons to feast on the easy meal

Reproduction
Komodo dragons breed mainly during the months of June and July and at this time the males in particular are highly territorial and will wrestle with one another, trying to force the opposing dragon to the ground. Komodo dragons lay clutches of around 20-30 eggs once a year. These are buried in a burrow dug by the female below the roots of a tree or under rocks.

Conservation status
Komodo dragons are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN red list owing to their extremely limited range. They are listed on Appendix I on CITES which means trade in this species is completely restricted without a licence. Individuals have successfully been kept and bred by zoos. Past estimates indicated that there were fewer than 5,000 individuals in the entire natural range. However, more recent information suggests there may be only half this number. Previous speculation about the ratio of males to females being 4:1 now also seems to be wrong as recent molecular tests on these animals in the wild reveal an actual ratio of 1:1. The population throughout the natural range, although extremely small, seems to be stable.

Voice
Mainly silent, although they occasionally give off a rasping hiss when exhaling or if angry.

Closest relative
The Komodo dragon is a monitor lizard (Genus Varanus). Closest relatives is probably the Water Monitor (Varanus salvator) of southeast Asia.